contact lens discussion thread (merged)

Freefall

Many opticians offer free contact lens trials. (i.e. Donald and Aitchison, Black and Lizars, etc)

All you have to do is go in and ask. Everything usually is free for the first month and you get to take them away that day. Then after a month cancel the Direct Debit and go with a new company. You may be able to go round in circles using different branches of the same company, they won't notice as you get to take the lenses away that day and no-one asks if you have ever had a contact lens trial before - so you don't have to lie.

After your first trial tell the optician that you have had contact lenses before so that they won't have to teach you how to put them in and clean them, etc.

You usually get a free contact lens assesment and eye test (especially if you are unemployed, in full time education, etc). However, just get the eye test at a place that does it free and show it to the optician every time you get your new free trial.

Good Luck.

Freefall

DazedByTheLight

Too much hassle!

Claude_2

I wear Daily Vision daily disposable contact lenses from Vision Express, as I have been shortsighted most of my life. I know I could save quite a bit of money by buying my lenses online. Trouble is, because mine are own brand lenses I can't find the exact match online (apart from the Vision Express website which would still save me £50.00) . So my question is: Can I swap the brand I use for any other brand?

jo_b_2

I'm going to move this thread over to the Health board.

building

people with tax credit exemption certificates can get under their scheme some money towards contact lenses. Voucher A which is what i would be entitled to would give me £32.90 for a 2 year period. not much but better than nothing. how do i get hold of cheap contact lenses even online with a company that offer this NHS scheme? thanks in advance.

building

and how much if any. thanks in advance.

sarah_elton

OK, I'm 24 and have worn glasses full time since I was 11.

I'd like to go over to contacts, mainly so in winter I don't steam up when entering shops, in summer when I get hot, and to stop all the fingerprint induced blurriness....

I have an eye test this afternoon and will ask the optician if they would work with my prescription (don't see why not - I'm short sighted, albeit very short sighted).

Thing is, it seems now you can choose between just a pair of contacts that you wash each day, etc. Or pay monthly for daily disposable ones.

Is one way generally cheaper than the other? Obviously I'll work it out based on cost of single pair, given that they'll last approx. 2 years. But I don't really know much about this so any tips?

Also, I mentioned changing over in passing when booking the eye test (at Boots - don't care if they're cheapest as work are paying for the test ). The guy said you have to get glasses as well as contacts, as you shouldn't wear contacts 7 days a week, to give your eyes a rest. I can understand this logic (both my parents had eye damage caused by old rock hard contacts), but being paranoid want to check he's not taking me for a ride and making me pay for both?

bluekp

Hi Sarah,

I'm 25 and have been wearing contact lens' since I was 19. It was one of the best decisions I've made!

Daily disposables (£27 pcm from Boots/£22 pcm from Specsavers) are really good if you're the type of person who doesn't want the hassle of storing their lens' at night.

Monthly disposables (£6 pcm from Boots/£10 pcm from Specsavers) are still really good as taking them out and putting them in their solution takes less than 30 seconds a day - and they're loads cheaper.

I've been wearing monthly disposables since I started wearing contact lens' and I wouldn't switch to daily disposables - but that's down to the price more than anything.

As for how long you can wear them, Specsavers told me I can wear mine for 14 hours per day every day. Boots told my boyfriend (who wears daily disposables) that he can wear his for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week.

If you want lens' you can wear 24 hours a day then they are available, but cost a bit more again. Also, I know someone who tested these for a week and they said they woke up with blurred vision every morning.

Anyway, go for it, and good luck with whichever sort you plump for. As for me, I'm swapping to Boots to save an extra £4 a month!

sarah_elton

Thanks! Monthlies do sound good, I agree. Even if I get glasses as well, sounds like I'll be buying glasses as usual, then paying £6/month on top for having a contacts option. Sounds good to me.

I wouldn't want to wear them 24 hours - at the least I'd take them out for bed every night!

Boots man was saying wear glasses one day per week, hence you have to buy those. Due the damage my parents had from contacts I'd be inclined to err on the cautious side and get a cheapy pair of glasses. Though theirs were before they even invented soft contacts.

Liz19

I have been wearing monthly disposables for a year now after being a confirmed glasses wearer for about 25 years. I keep them in all the time, day and night, and only change them once a month which is great as there is no pfaffing about with cleaning solutions plus I don't actually like putting them in and taking them out. They are absolutely fantastic and I have had no problems with them at all. It is so great waking up in the morning and actually being able to see the alarm clock clearly without having to grope around for my specs. I did think to start with that it would be strange to actually sleep in them but I was able to do it from the very first night.